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Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Kleptocracy



By Tuan Abu Bakar bin Tuan Abu Khalid 

Thanks Malaysia Today

Kleptocracy is a government of thieves, by thieves and for thieves. The ruling elite in a kleptocracy governs only to extend its personal wealth and political power by stealing from the state’s coffer.
The major characteristics of a kleptocracy are rampant corruption, rent-seeking activities, money-laundering and abuses of human rights.

Since a kleptocracy benefits only a small section of the population at the expense of the wider population, the modus operandi of the kleptocracy to stay in power is to divide the population along tribal, racial or religious lines.

Contemporary kleptocracies often maintain a facade of democracy to camouflage their kleptocratic tendencies. A kleptocracy may have a state constitution, though it is regularly abused to suit the whims and fancies of the ruling elite. Regular elections are also held to enforce the notion of a democratic state. The elections are rigged and manipulated to provide legitimacy to the kleptocracy.

Government agencies such as the judicial system, the civil service, the legislative body, the security forces and even the church act as apparatchik of the kleptocracy. The officials holding key positions are rewarded by having a share of the loot.

True to the maxim, power comes from the barrel of the gun, the police force is an integral member of the kleptocracy. The primary role of the police force is to provide security and well-being of the kleptocracy.
A kleptocracy, being an unjust system of government, brooks dissent and opposition. It is the function of the police force to provide surveillance of any form of dissent. Threats to the well-being of the kleptocracy are eliminated by using ad-hoc laws and regulations or extra-judicial means. Any gathering to express opposition to the kleptocracy is brutally dispersed. However, staged-demonstrations to support the kleptocracy are allowed and protected by the police force.

The leadership of the police force is made-up of intellectually-deficient officers. This is is to ensure blind loyalty and total obedience to the ruling elite since they do not have the mental capacity to evaluate the morality or immorality of their actions. Conditioned as the dogs in Pavlov’s experiments, they are only motivated by the base instincts of greed and lust.

The rank-and-file of the police force is recruited from the bottom of the barrel; those who are not readily-employable in other sectors of the economy. Giddy by the minuscule power derived by being in the force and given tacit license to engage in petty criminal activities, the rank-and-file is committed to the preservation of the status quo.
History has shown that the downfall of kleptocracies are directly attributable to the collapse or defection of the police force. Without the police force, a kleptocracy is but a paper tiger.
The finality of the Shah of Iran’s regime was not portrayed by the photo of the Shah fleeing Iran but by a photo of six dead, naked generals of the SAVAK lying on the damp concrete floor of a morgue in Teheran.

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